Dave Montali

Emerging markets are taking over outbound travel. Economic growth is increasing living standards across the world and outbound travel is growing along. International Travel Expenditure is now shifting from a handful of countries who have historically made up most of the outbound travel to emerging markets.

The leather wallet is facing increasing competition from digital alternatives. In this report we explore the types of innovations shifting the payments ecosystem and identify how early adopters have been able to leverage new payment systems to drastically cut operating costs while giving consumers a better payment experience.

This report analyzes the state of hotel distribution with a focus on direct booking. Rather than taking the view that it’s a booking war, we believe the landscape is far more nuanced where hotels need to take a holistic approach with their distribution channels. Readers will gain insight from our interviews with over 20 executives across the hotel and online travel ecosystem along with the results from our survey of 370 hotels around the world, which was powered by Skift and Trivago.

Europe has traditionally been a very active player in travel. Yet lack of funding, market fragmentation and other factors have held it back from producing global corporations. Nevertheless, Europe is finally warming up to the American-style, risk big and risk early venture investment culture that has given birth to so many tech megabrands out of Silicon Valley.

Airbnb popularized a new type of rental product - i.e. the primary-residence urban rental, but now professionally managed properties are coming online with fury. Looking forward ten years, the landscape will likely look quite different. Consolidation is in the air; vacation rentals have gone mainstream with the consumer but inventory remains fragmented. Property managers, marketplaces, SaaS platforms and a host of other add-on services are evolving their strategies to capture greater scale and efficiencies.

There are over 77.5 million family households in America, with an average size of 3.26 people, and an average annual vacation spend of $3,340. It's a sizeable market and most travel memories are made with life partners, family, friends, or children when taking into account trip composition, but also during the decision-making process on where to go and what to do once there. Travel and tourism professionals should have a keen sense of modern family dynamics.

Instagram and Snapchat have exploded in recent years; the user base is certainly there but at the same time, they leave something to be desired for advertisers. Visual content is also a challenge on the production side. How travel brands leverage both branded and user generated content to engage potential customers will vary. One certainty is that travel should continue to experiment with visual content and the platforms that attract millions.

The complex issues and questions being raised by alternative accommodations providers are proof that these businesses are no longer in their infancy, or startup stages. Despite the challenges, the sharing economy is here to stay. The almighty consumer will ultimately decide the ebbs and flows of how the business of short-term rentals plays out.

The global digital payments ecosystem is undergoing a rapid and monumental shift; smart travel brands should stay on top of the shifts in how we pay for goods and services. Peer-to-peer payment platforms, digital wallets, and cryptocurrencies may have been a thing of science fiction just years ago. Yet, many of the data points now clearly suggest otherwise.